Welcome to Lalaith's Middle-earth Science Pages!

This page collects all additional essays on J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth that have not been included in the books. You know, some collectors prefer to have anything related to Tolkien standing in their bookshelves. Hence, I have collected expanded and updated versions of the histories of the lesser Men of Middle-earth, on Adûnaic and Westron and on astronomy and calendar reckoning in illustrated books that are available both as ebooks and in print.

Seiten

Dienstag, 11. Juli 2017

Monday, 9 July 2941 T.A.: The giants are out!

The Great Goblin. Illustration by Horus Weber
for the first German edition, 1957

On this day, in 2941 T.A., the weather in the Misty Mountains severely deteriorated and a storm broke loose that forced Bilbo, Gandalf and the Company to seek shelter underground. Bilbo's claim that he had actually seen giants outside flinging stones at each other has been contested by many because it would be hard to understand why Sauron would not have pressed such powerful fighters into his service. Anyway, the conditions were terrible enough to be allegorically exaggerrated in mind.

According to his letters, Tolkien was inspired by his own experience of a mountain storm above the Lauterbrunnen valley, on Mount Jungfrau.

Sometime this night - it could never been clarified whether it was still Monday night or already Tuesday morning, the ground opened in the Company's shelter and released the Misty Mountain orcs, or goblins, that took evereone captive including Gandalf and took them to their leader, the Great Goblin.